


Always Another Way

by Sarifel-Corrisafid-Ilxhel (Sarifel)



Series: My Scraps [1]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Alternate Universe, Andalites On Earth, Canon-Typical Violence, Elfangor Lives, F/M, Family Drama, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Space Battles, The Ellimist Tries Again, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-05 22:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17333234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarifel/pseuds/Sarifel-Corrisafid-Ilxhel
Summary: This piece is currently being rewritten!Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. Hero of the Andalite people. A living legend. A formernothlit. When the Dome ShipGalaxyTreeis ambushed in Earth orbit, he faces a losing battle and flees to the planet below in desperation. He is not alone, however, as an old tormentor follows him. What awaits him is beyond what he could have ever expected.





	1. The Loss of the GalaxyTree

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I'm in the middle of reworking this story. Rather than delete what I have, I'm going to add this to a new collection called "My Scraps", which is where all my older attempts at writing will go in the near future.
> 
> Expect to see a new version of this story start uploading in the next week or so!

<There’s too many of them!> <Check your tail, check your tail!> <I’ve lost starboard actuators, smoke in the cabin, power systems failing!> <Port engine is gone!>

 

The voices of the pilots in my squadron echoed in rising panic as more and more Bug Fighters arrived from ambush positions behind their Pool Ship. The Yeerks had been clever. They hid the true size of their force from sensors by using their largest ship to hide their smallest, and we were paying the price.

<Fighter on my tail! Requesting assistance!>

_Come on_ , I urged myself as I turned my attention to yet another Bug Fighter as they maneuvered behind the fighter of one of my best pilots. <I’ve got you Mertil, you’re clear in three, two, one-> The tail of my fighter flashed and the Bug Fighter fell out of pursuit, debris trailing from the hole where the fighter’s crew cabin had been. Unguided, it would descend into the planet’s atmosphere and burn to pieces.

<Thank you, my Prince!> Mertil accelerated as he pulled a turn back towards the mess of Andalite and Yeerk fighters. I mirrored the move, narrowly missing a small piece of debris- was that ours or theirs, I wondered, before diagnostics indicated it belonged to the primitive species on the planet below. There was no time to worry about that, I realized as I punched up to high burn and selected my next target. Type-4 Bug Fighters cluttered my sensors, and for a moment I had doubts before I realized they were spoofing our sensors with their Pool Ship. There weren’t nearly as many fighters as we thought. My hearts lept inside me.

I reached out to my comms system to extend the range of my thought-speak. <Alright pilots, we’ve got twenty three targets left, stay calm and we’ve got this.>

<Who wants to take bets the Beast takes all twenty three?> One of my pilots laughed. I burned a little at that- “The Beast”. The Yeerks called me that. I tried not to let it bother me, and it had become a source of pride for my pilots to say that they flew with me, but it felt unbecoming. I did not want to think I’d done anything to truly deserve such a title.

<Come on now, stay focused. Gafinilan, switch your reaction control systems to active. Gelolar, purge that smoke and switch to alternating power mode. Alright, let's do this by the numbers, just like in training.>

Two more Bug Fighters evaporated in front of me in the next few moments. The battle was a blur of red and blue flashes, of G-forces as I threw my fighter around in impossibly tight maneuvers, of chatter between my pilots as they reported their hits and kills and assisted each other. Twenty-three fighters became seventeen became twelve.

<I’m not keeping count or anything,> Gelolar chimed as another fighter broke into pieces in front of me, <but that’s fifteen for the Beast so far.> A general cheer erupted from my pilots, and my face burned for a moment as I shuffled on my hooves. Everything was going well. We’d taken damage, but we hadn’t lost anyone and the Yeerks were on the ropes. It was perfect. The glittering blue planet below us was safe.

And then I felt it. The moment that everything changed, and my eyes snapped towards the cold, lifeless moon. It was a dark chill that filled my entire being. Hanging there in the void, racing at full burn towards us, was a twisted black ship I knew all too well. The sensors in my fighter confirmed it just as the panicked cry of identification rang out from one of my pilots.

<BLADE SHIP!!>

I turned additional sensors towards it immediately as the Bug Fighters attached to it’s outer hull detached and raced towards us. My hearts sank into my hooves as the new contacts lit up the sensor screen. We were being forced away from the Dome Ship, I could see that. A wedge was being driven between us. And then I saw why. The great battle-axe of a ship that had arrived was turning towards the _GalaxyTree_ , and in a moment panic gripped me.

That moment stretched into an eternity as the great Dome was jettisoned and the stalk of the _GalaxyTree_ turned to bring it’s main Shredders to bear. My breath caught inside me as the blue jets of the maneuvering thrusters burned as bright as they could, straining to turn the bulk of the ship in time-

It was too late. I could count the red lances of light as they blew into and through the battle bridge, through two of the three Z-space engines, through the stalk. Metal and ramonite burned. Atmosphere flash-ignited and died in the vacuum of space.

 

One. Two. Three. Four.

 

My hearts pounded with each hit. And then, silence. I scarcely heard my sensors screaming about the incoming fighters. I scarcely heard my pilots. The third Z-space engine of the great Dome Ship _GalaxyTree_ overloaded with brilliant white light, scattering the ship’s molecules across the nearest cubic light-year of space. With that desperate attempt to escape capture, the hundreds of Andalites aboard the ship died.

The explosion translated to the falling Dome as it was captured by Earth’s gravity well, and my ship’s computer beeped a solemn warning. Dome landing guidance offline. Atmospheric entry imminent. I slammed my tail against the wall of my fighter in frustration, screaming silently. I tried to establish communications with the Dome. I tried to apologize- <Aximili! I’m so sorry, it’s my fault! I’m so sorry!>

There was no response. There would never be a response.

 

The Blade Ship turned it’s Dracons on us as the remaining Bug Fighters regrouped with their reinforcements and closed in. I had no choice, I realized, as I considered our situation. Outnumbered. Outmaneuvered. Our escape route was cut off, and if we stayed in orbit we were dead. We had to go to the surface and hope to hide somewhere there. We had to-

Gelolar’s fighter next to mine burst into flames all at once and fizzled out of existence. No distress signal. No request for help. He was simply gone.

<NO!> I screamed in rage as to my right, another Andalite fighter was disintegrated. <Everyone! Everyone, head to the surface!> I punched my fighter to a high burn. The atmosphere should attenuate the power of the Dracon weapons, I realized. Perhaps we could reach a cloudbank, turn around, bring everything to bear on the Bug Fighters. Perhaps we could...

Distress calls erupted as the Bug Fighters fell on us. Alarms blared around me. In my anger and frustration, I realized, I had broken one of the most important rules of piloting a fighter- Never turn away. Turn away and you give the enemy the initiative. Around me, my pilots followed my orders dutifully. And around me, as sensor contact after sensor contact winked out, they were paying the price. Nerilit’s fighter, trailing smoke and missing a wing, tumbled into the atmosphere as it began to accelerate out of control before fragmenting apart under the aerodynamic stresses. Werabet’s fighter flashed and exploded under a series of hits. Gafinilan’s fighter collided with Mertil’s, sending the two spiralling into the atmosphere.

 

KERFOOM.

 

I was thrown against the wall of my own fighter. Dazed, I rose to my hooves, dimly aware of the fire consuming my cabin, dimly aware of the fire suppressant system activating and making it impossible to breathe. Acrid smoke filled my lungs. Burning, searing pain beyond imagining ran down my flank. I’d been hit, I dimly realized. I’d been hit! My fighter was tumbling, alarms were screaming, the clouds raced up at me! I threw the reaction controls on at full and brought myself to a dizzying, inertia-defying halt as I cleared the bottom of the clouds over a broad Human city that stretched out with glittering yellow lights as far as I could see.

For a moment, I wondered in amazement. I’d made it. I was below the clouds, the Bug Fighters were breaking off to avoid cindering in the atmosphere, they’d lost me! We could turn back and catch them! We could...we... My hearts stopped. There was no we. There was only I.

I, Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. I, the leader of my squadron, the Beast, the legendary hero who returned in the darkest hour, the one everyone followed dutifully...

I’d sent my younger brother, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, to the Dome instead of allowing him to fight and face a warrior’s death in battle. He would have died afraid and alone, helpless. My hearts pounded.

I pulled my squadron into an impossible maneuver, hoping for cover under the clouds hundreds of miles beneath us, and one by one each of my loyal pilots was killed. My hearts twisted with fury.

I had allowed myself to be pulled back into this mess, where my decisions allowed good innocent Andalites to die, when I could have been here on Earth this entire time with my wife! With my son! My hearts shook with rage!

<ELLIMIST! ELLIMIST I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME! YOU SPITEFUL _PLIRANTH_ , ANSWER ME!!> I screamed and ranted at the being that had toyed with my life. I screamed obscenities at the nigh-omnipotent trickster until the searing pain in my side became too much to bear. How dare he use me like this! How dare he use anyone like this! If he has power, he should deal with his enemies himself! He was responsible, not me! The suffering was his to bear the blame for, not mine!

Something inside me snapped in those moments. There was, I realized, a way out. I tried to get my bearings and plotted a course towards what had once been a peaceful forest on the outskirts of Los Angeles. To what had once been a stand of trees near my home with Loren. I plotted a course to the Time Matrix.

 

And then, I was no longer flying above the city I had once called home in a damaged fighter. The searing pain in my side had gone, and I blinked and stared around myself, hearts twisting in fear and then rage as I realized where I was. The primary armory aboard the Dome Ship _GalaxyTree_.

I looked around immediately, expecting to see the quartermaster yelling at me for being in here without purpose, but he was gone. In his place, staring at me with eyes that seemingly held all the universe within them, was a wizened old Andalite. His coat was steel grey and the lines in his face told of untold years, but his tail was held high with an energy unnatural for an Andalite his age.

<Stealing our image now?> I spat. <This is a new low even for you, Ellimist!>

<Your image? No, Elfangor.> He smiled faintly. <Well, perhaps yes, but it was long before your time. I am simply...blending in.>

<Why are you doing this?!>

The faint smile on the being’s face turned sad. <Your people’s reaction to the Yeerk campaign against Earth was, how do the natives say it, “Too little, too late”.>

<So what?! Earth’s just lost then?! No, I can go grab the Time Matrix and I can make this right, and I’m not going to let some puffed up bast-> He raised a hand, cutting the curse short. I stared, blinking as I tried to scream at him, but the thought-speak had been taken from me. Sign language, however, had not, and I shared with him what I knew of the human gesture of impudence and disdain.

<Elfangor, please be reasonable.> The Ellimist motioned with an outstretched hand. <Look around you. I am offering you the chance to take something here to the surface, something that may change the war for the better, that may save the Humans and Andalites alike.> His hand lowered in indication to a small blue cube sitting on a table.

I bristled immediately. <An Escafil device? You want me to give the Humans an Escafil device?!>

<You are willing to violate the laws of time and space, but not a simple regulation on sharing technology?> He gave me an amused smile.

<I’m willing to do whatever will spite you,> I replied. <I’m not taking it.>

<Elfangor, please. I would rather that you take it by choice. I will return you to your fighter, and->

<Send me to my death as a criminal? No, I am done with you. I am not dealing with your nonsense anymore. You came into my life and took everything I loved from me, and now my crewmates are dead, my wingmates are dead, my brother is dead. I am done.>

 

For a moment, I felt proud of my tirade against the being, and then I staggered as the pain in my side erupted again. The smoke-filled air in my fighter burned my lungs, and I groaned as I fought to put the fighter into landing mode above my destination. The Time Matrix was nearby, I could feel it, like an electric tingle along the edge of my tail-blade. I could morph to Taxxon and dig it up, I could end this nonsense once and for all...if I could morph, I realized dimly as a fresh surge of pain shot through me.

I could try. I knew that, I could always try. But the pain of my injuries, the burn that penetrated into a primary lung and along my digestive tract...I had been fatally wounded, I belatedly realized. Not immediately fatal, but infection would set in unless I could morph the injury away. And I could not morph the injury away if the pain of the injury prevented me from concentrating. I winced, staggering where I stood. I was dying slowly enough to appreciate all the things I wanted to call the Ellimist, but I was dying.

I had to try, though. I had to try. I activated the maneuvering thrusters of my fighter and brought it in for a landing over a large concrete pad in an abandoned construction yard that had once been the forest I fondly remembered. The inexorable drive of humanity to replace meadow and stream with concrete and steel baffled me now, as it always did, but I couldn’t let myself worry about that now.

With a gentle thud, the craft landed and the primary thrusters died as the power finally began to fail. The emergency ventilation system kicked on late- If I lived, I was going to write a strongly worded letter to the designer of these fighters about that- and the smoke cleared. With an eyestalk, I saw the Ellimist standing behind me with that dumb blue cube in his hands.

<Elfangor, I appreciate that I have not made your life easy, but this is not something I can let you fight.>

<Oh sure,> I replied bitterly. <Yes, I’ll take that and march it right outside and give it to who, exactly? The first vagrant I run across?>

And then I was not in my fighter anymore. I stared around myself at the construction site, pain in my side gone again as I turned in place. I could not feel the air. I did not touch the ground. He was showing me what was here, I realized. I found my ship in the distance, and I began to walk towards it, unclear on what I was supposed to be looking for. I had parked not far from the Time Matrix- perhaps only a few dozen feet away. I was silent, a ghost, an unseen observer in the world as I came up behind a small group of Humans. Adolescents, I judged. Three males. Two females.

<Children? You want me to give the morphing power to children?!>

<Were you not a child when you escaped the Taxxon homeworld with the Time Matrix?> the Ellimist wondered. <Was Arbron not a child when he took the role of General of the Taxxons?>

I didn’t want to admit that he was right. Children can be capable of amazing things.

<Take a closer look,> he instructed. <They will not see you. Time is frozen so that you may make your decision.>

I stepped around the group of children, grumbling in growing frustration with bristled fur and a twitching tail-blade. They were standing directly above the Time Matrix, I realized. The Ellimist had ensured they would be here on purpose! If I morphed to Taxxon here, now, I would risk harming them as the Taxxon Hunger set in!

<You clever...> The curse fell away again.

<If you go to the Time Matrix, you will hurt far more than just five children. But even in your grief, you are not so far gone as to make that kind of decision.> He was getting smug. How I wanted to put my tail into him. <Take a closer look. Do you recognize them?>

<I...> I wanted to say no. Surely, four of them I did not know at all. But the fifth, frozen with awe on his face as he stared at my damaged fighter, dark blonde hair still inflated by residual static charges, curious green eyes alight with wonder... no. It couldn’t be. I had seen the smile before, but it couldn’t be.

I had not seen him since the reconnaissance mission all those years ago... and even then, with the Ellimist there, it had been but a fleeting encounter. This was a face that I loved but did not know. A face with my human eyes and Loren’s smile. <Tobias...>

<He has grown up to be a kind and intelligent young man, Elfangor. One of the best that Humanity has to offer.>

<You brought him here?!> Panic filled me. <I can’t drag my son into a war! No! I refuse!>

<I did not bring him here. Possibilities can move without my intervention. Coincidence and fate rule many encounters. But yes, he is here, one of the champions that may defeat the Yeerk Empire in time. But to do that, they need your help, Elfangor. He needs your help.>

I stared at my son for a moment, emotions surging through me. This was unfair. It was unfair for everything to end in suffering! To end with so much broken and so little hope! There had to be another way, a better way. I stood there in ghostly silence, crying in my hearts as I struggled with the decision I was being forced to make.

I do not know how much time the Ellimist gave me to make my decision, but when mental exhaustion overtook me, I was returned to my ship. <Alright,> I said quietly as I set the blue cube on the shelf next to a photoframe that currently showed a picture of my father’s family. My grandparents, my father, my uncle when they were younger... I waited the frame to cycle through to an image of my mother’s family, and through again to an image of a younger Aximili, his bright green eyes sparkling as he took his toy hover-truck out for a test run. It was all I had to remember him by now.

<You’ve decided,> the Ellimist observed with finality.

<Yes. I’ll do it.> I inhaled slightly. <For Tobias.>

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a few words and concepts in this story that I will use in my other stories as well. That doesn't mean this story and those are in the same AU.
> 
> Words:
> 
> _utzulissim_ \- A general name for one of any telepathic abilities the Andalites demonstrate through the series. The _utzum_ visions are an example.
> 
> _pliranth_ \- An Andalite curseword with grave implications about someone else's behavior or honor, roughly analogous to b****/b******.
> 
> Side note:  
> I remain convinced Elfangor visited Earth sometime between the events of The Andalite Chronicles and Book 1#: The Invasion, shortly after becoming an Prince, and that is how the letter for Tobias in Book #23 says that Elfangor was a Prince. This story will reference and expand upon that supposed mission, drawing as much from canon or reasonable assumptions as possible.


	2. Seerow's Kindness and Human Kindness

“It’s safe,” a boy called from outside my fighter. I inhaled and tried to still the rapid beating of my hearts, to push the pain I felt inside and out away. “We won’t hurt you.”

I was silent. What do I say? What do I do? I couldn’t just walk down the ramp and say _I come in peace_ or _Take me to your leader_. First contact was something I never excelled in. And with my son here, with the Ellimist’s chosen champions here, there was that added layer of... something that tugged at me inside. Finality. I was going to die here. I did not know how, but I was certain of it. Their story began where mine ended. I wanted to cry, if Andalites were capable of the act.

“Please come out, we won’t hurt you.”

I closed my eyes. <I know.> I steeled myself for a moment, still trying to steady my mind and my hearts. _Peace_ , I told myself. I would have peace soon, and maybe, if the old tales had any merit, perhaps I would see everyone I had lost again someday. Religion on the battlefield. I wanted to laugh.

“Can you come out?”

I squared my shoulders. <Yes. Do not be frightened.> I put on my best talking-to-aliens tone. I hid my pain. And I ordered the exterior door to open. At the bottom of the ramp, the five Human children waited, staring at me with awe and fear. Slowly, their apprehension turned to warm, friendly smiles that filled my hearts in a way I could not describe.

“Hello,” the boy who had tried to speak to me called. It was with shock and pride I realized that it had been Tobias calling out to me this entire time.

<Hello,> I replied quietly.

“Hi,” the other Humans echoed back. I took a tentative step towards them and, as I shifted my weight to the legs on the burned side, a jolt of pain shot through me and I collapsed with a silent cry of pain. Tobias rushed and tried to grab me, but it was to no avail, and I fell to the dirt as I slipped off of the boarding ramp.

What followed was a strange serenity as I stared up at my son and these other children. I told them what I could of the threats their planet faced. They were scared, unsure, and not at all ready for the burden that had been placed upon them. I did not share what I knew of the Ellimist- That horror was not one they needed. I did not share what I so desperately wanted to tell Tobias, out of fear he would reject me. I wanted so desperately to say that even though I barely knew him, in his words and his actions these few moments I could see the best of Human and Andalite together, and that I was already proud of him.

These words, however, I kept to myself. And so I activated the mental connection I held with my ship, and I poured memories into it. My _hirac delest_. My final words and thoughts, broadcast to the Andalite people. A plea for help for a planet my people had long found to be insignificant and below their notice. An explanation of my crimes, justification even. And a hope that they may, someday, arrive and save the people I had once joined.

 

As the children began to deliberate, I cast a glance around as I waited for the inevitable arrival of the Yeerks, and I saw him there in the distance. The Ellimist, still in the guise of an elderly Andalite. He simply nodded quietly and smiled. <Now is the time, Elfangor.>

I let myself smile as I realized I was being given a chance to be a father after all. The children had been discussing ways to save me, which filled my hearts, but it was not meant to be. Instead... I understood now. I instructed them to bring me the Escafil device, the blue cube that would give them the power they needed.

Tobias knelt and placed a hand on my shoulder as another boy went into my ship. “You’re scared,” he said quietly. It wasn’t a question, it was simply a statement of fact. I nodded very slightly in affirmation.

<I am, yes.>

“I am too.” He smiled faintly.

<Don’t be,> I said quietly. <You are stronger than you know.> His smile grew more genuine before he looked up to see the other boy return with the cube, and I did my best to sit up as Tobias supported my upper torso.

The children deliberated as I explained the power I could give them with this small cube. One, a loudmouth, protested. Even in the face of everything they could see, they protested. The others saw duty- Perhaps too much duty, I realized bitterly. What would they do with morphing? What was the Ellimist’s plan? Surely he did not mean for five children to fight alone against an empire that numbered in the millions.

But I tried to trust that there was a plan. I tried. I cannot say that I succeeded, as the young blond girl in the group pointed out a pair of red lights streaking across the sky. The Yeerks were arriving, I realized bitterly. I cast an eye around, finding that strange being again in the shadows of the construction site.

<Tell me something Ellimist,> I wondered. <Is there truly hope? Will the suffering someday end?>

<I cannot say that suffering will ever end, Elfangor. But as for hope...> He smiled. <Always. There is always hope.>

He vanished before my eyes with that last smile, and my hearts turned. I did not understand- All his power, all his ability, and all he could offer was vague plans and wishes for hope. I found my panic returning as my stalk eyes tracked the two red dots in the sky as they raced a spiralling search pattern above the city.

And so, I urged the children on. They deliberated, they continued to deliberate. I looked helplessly between them as Tobias gripped my shoulder, and I turned an eye towards him. His gaze had fixed on the boy with brown hair. Something within him flickered for a moment, lending strength and authority to his voice.

“We have to.”

“Yes,” the brown-haired boy responded hesitantly with a nod. “We have no choice.” He held the cube up between all of us. He supported it on a palm.

And with instruction, they each touched a different side of the Escafil device, leaving the side closest to me. And, for myself more than them, I whispered quietly- <Do not be afraid.> I touched the side of the cube and concentrated.

To gain the power to morph is a wonderful thing. To give it is equally wonderful, I learned, as a warmth filled me and flowed down my arm and into the cube. I could not hide the slightest smile as the children let out involuntary gasps of laughter as the shock entered into them. That warmth faded, however, as a cold chill shot through me, and my stalk eyes shot straight up to stare into the sky. I could not see it, and I guessed that it was cloaked, but it was there.

The Blade Ship.

Fear flickered through me as I alerted the children to what was coming. There had to be something more I could do. Something, anything to buy them the time they needed to escape. My ship had power enough for one more shot. Against two Bug Fighters and a Blade Ship, it would be nothing more than an annoyance unless they came closer. What could I do... I closed my main eyes for a moment as the children wondered on what or who Visser Three was.

An idea found its way to the front of my mind, something I had not considered before. The lights of my ship were active, illuminating the construction site and guiding the Yeerks towards us. In a hurry, I issued a simple command, and the lights shut off. The final gasp of my ship’s power, enough for a single Shredder burst, activated. The ship shimmered and vanished under it’s cloaking device, hidden for some time- Perhaps a couple hours, I judged.

I let myself slump against Tobias’s shoulder as he stared bewildered at the empty void where my ship had been.

<I can only buy you time,> I said simply. <It will not be long before they find this place. You must save yourselves! Save yourselves and your planet!>

“But how are we supposed to fight...these ‘Controllers’?” The blond girl wondered quickly.

<You must find a way. Now run!>

The children each jerked in reaction to the force I mustered as they stared up at the red lights that had come to a stop above us. One of them, the brown-haired boy, found the strength to nod even as they grew increasingly sick and pale with fear. “He’s right. Run!”

 

Four of the children ran, but to my horror they did not run far enough. They turned and hid behind a half-built wall of primitive bricks, staring up at the sky apprehensively. Tobias, however, stayed behind and crouched next to me despite the danger to himself. I couldn’t hide the smile in my eyes as I looked up at him. Perhaps I shouldn’t have asked the question, but I did. My time was limited. I had to know.

<Your mother...tell me about your mother, Tobias. Your family.>

A series of expressions crossed his face quickly- Shock. Fear. Anxiety. And to my terror, lack of knowledge.

“She...disappeared. When I was just little. I don’t know what happened. I guess she died.  People say she just left because she was messed up. They said she never got over my father. I don't know. But I know she has to be dead because she'd never have just left me. No matter what. But maybe that's just what I told myself. I don't exactly have a family.”

Yes, I knew there was truth in his words. Loren would have never left him, not if it had been up to her. He needed family, though, he needed more than I could offer as I lay here dying in front of him. <Go to your friends, Tobias. They are your family now.>

I lifted my hand to motion for him to go, and to my surprise he took my hand between both of his. So young, I thought, and yet he held strength beyond any child. I raised my other hand and pressed the palm against his forehead. Reflexively, as if he knew what I was doing, he closed his eyes. The _utzulissim_ came easily- A transfer of memories. Rapid, jumbled- I did not have time to properly sort and arrange this gift. It would serve him and his friends in the coming days, though. He would share what I could not.

And then, slowly, Tobias stumbled to his feet as he anxiously watched the hovering red lights in the sky. He turned and ran to his friends, and they remained crouched behind that low wall, peering out over it at me. Peering up at the sky, waiting for the Yeerks to descend. I stared up at the sky, afraid for myself and for my son. Afraid for his friends. There is a strange strength that comes when you know you will die for others, however. All risk to yourself is disregarded, and for the briefest moments, the strongest pain cannot stop you.

And so I waited for death. Some bitter part of me wondered how it would come- Vaporized by Dracon? My ship surely would be, every trace of it erased to hide the invasion from the humans. Sliced to pieces by Hork-Bajir? Torn to shreds by Taxxon? Or perhaps Visser Three would morph into...I couldn't bring myself to finish the thought. As much as I had grown to think of Visser Three as my enemy, my hearts still ached as I considered the mad War-Prince I had let be enslaved by the vile slug. Did he still fight, I wondered? Did he cry out as he was used, broken and reshaped each time that hideous Yeerk in his head wanted to dispose of a nuisance? Some part of me said that yes, that was likely. Visser Three never allowed an Andalite to live long enough to become a Controller. Whether it was mercy on his part for the race he admired or mere selfishness and greed would never be clear to me.

My thoughts stretched on for what felt like an eternity, and I chanced a glance up at the sky again, gauging how little time I had left. But strangely, against all logic and slow to register in my mind, the two red dots in the sky, the pair of Bug Fighters searching for my fighter and myself...they were moving on. The Blade Ship, tainted with the evil of Visser Three, lurked overhead, it’s cloak hiding its exact position. But I felt it drift onwards as well, towards more pressing matters it seemed. If there was no prize to be had, the Visser would not wait. He was not a patient Yeerk, and some hapless fool was sure to be devoured tonight for wasting his time, but it would not be me.

The Bug Fighters were slow and uncertain, spotlights snapping on and scanning over the construction site, but their beams of light were unguided, tracing over broken rubble and concrete without direction. They spread out over the streets and houses nearby, tracing some increasingly frantic path. Had they truly lost track of my fighter in the ground-clutter? I wondered on that with the slightest amount of hope. They should have identified it’s exact location before the cloaking device was activated, even with their primitive Yeerk optical sensors, and yet...

 

The Yeerks moved away. It would not be long before they returned, but it would be long enough for these children to...escape? I stared as they sat there. They should have been running, but they stayed and waited. They watched the sky with confusion and apprehension, but then relief crossed their faces as the sky cleared.

Slowly, one of the children made their way back over to me. I blinked up at them as it became clear who it was that had come back over to me- Tobias. My hearts lifted, only to twist on themselves as I saw the urgent stress crossing his face. The dark-skinned girl followed him shortly, concern in her eyes as she looked over my injuries again.

“Come on,” Tobias urged quietly. “Before they come back.”

<My injuries are fatal. I cannot go with you.>

The dark-skinned girl came closer, around my legs as she studied what she could see of my injuries more clearly than before. “Second, third degree burns over most of your right side, but...” She glanced at me. “I know it’s painful. I know it hurts, but I’m not seeing anything immediately life-threatening. Please...” She took my hand, gently rubbing with unexpected grace from such strong fingers. “We can still get you help. Can you hold on for an hour? Just an hour.”

I tried to smile reassuringly, but I knew the truth could not be made any better by it. <I will be dead within one of your Earth days. Even if I go with you. Infection or shock will kill me.>

Tobias looked at me, realization flashing across his face. “What if you...you know, morphed? Wouldn’t that heal the injuries?” He already understood something in the information I had given him, it seemed, and a flicker of pride rose inside me.

<I am too weak to morph away the injuries. The pain...morphing requires concentration. I cannot keep the focus it requires.>

“Well you’ve got to try.” The kind girl was firmer. “Please? We’ll be right here...” She squeezed my hand, and Tobias took the other. The other human children came, standing behind them, watching me...

I wanted to protest again, but it would have fallen on deaf ears. Humans are still as stubborn as ever, I realized with a trace of silent amusement. Imminent death only makes them want to try harder, to find that one in a million chance they might survive. This extended to me, and the two holding my hands...my son, and this girl. They were offering their strength. They had so much to offer.

Perhaps, if I could find some of that stubbornness within myself...I had been human once, had I not? I had fought impossible odds and succeeded only because I fought, even when victory was nowhere to be seen. It was what made me the pilot I was today. But...a tremor pushed through my mind. Was I not supposed to die today? Was my purpose not fulfilled? The Ellimist had shown me...

But he was not here to tell me to die. I searched my thoughts. I looked around. There was no trace of the being at all. I resolved there, as my gaze fell back onto the face of my son, that if the Ellimist was not there to tell me it was my time...that if the Yeerks were not coming to finish me off...then I could fight a little longer. For my son.

I closed my eyes, borrowing the strength the human children offered, letting their touch guide me through the pain. <There is something I would like to borrow from the two of you for this.>

"What?" the girl wondered. "What do you need?"

Tobias's eyes searched my face in question before he turned his head to look at the others. "Our DNA. He wants to disguise himself as a human."

Behind him, the others stared quizzically. One of them, the dark-haired child who referred to everything as insane, raised his right hand. "Um, wouldn't it look weird if there were two of one of us running around? What're we going to do, tell the Yeerks we have an unregistered twin?"

His comment filled me with surprise. I will admit, I did not think much of this child with the way he had been acting, but there was an intelligence to his words that could not be denied. He deserved an answer. <If I acquire multiple humans, two or more, I can combine the DNA strands to create a new, unique morph.> I let myself smile. <I would be happy to teach you.>

Tobias nodded immediately, clenching my hand in his two reassuringly. "You can use my DNA." The dark-skinned girl agreed shortly after. These two...I only needed two, I thought as I glanced at the others in the back. There was little chance the loud one would consent. The brown-haired boy was quiet as ever, cautiously turning in place where he stood to scan the skyline. The blond girl might have consented, but I did not wait for her. The grips the two children had on my hands slackened as they fell into the acquiring trance, and in a moment it was done. I had acquired my own human son and this kind girl.

As they recovered from the trance, I closed my eyes to focus on the _frolis_ maneuver. It is a strange thing, a process by which you attempt to visualize the two or more morphs acquired inside your mind's eye and blend them together, and the morphing technology takes care of combining the DNA for you. It is a process easily influenced by desires- I am comfortable as I am, and so I would want to be male. I identify with Tobias, and so more of the resulting morph would be like him. I admired the strength of the kind girl, and I wanted to hope I could borrow that from her. And a thought hit me as the process finished, causing me to blink in a shame no Andalite would understand.

I could morph right now, but I would have no clothes. I knew from experience that nothing attracted more attention than a naked Human- Something about them seems like they should be covered up, made less vulnerable, and their society has strong taboos on simply running around naked. Embarrassment crossed my face. <I do not suppose any of you has a residence nearby. When I morph, I will not have any coverings like you are wearing.>

The loud one slapped his forehead and groaned. "Oh my god, please tell me we won't have to run around naked." The others laughed nervously, and I shook my head before smiling at them.

<Simple coverings can be retained through morphing, but I did not come here with any prepared.>

To my surprise, the brown-haired boy spoke up. "I have my basketball uniform." His face twisted slightly through a few emotions as he took the small pack he wore on his back off and turned it around to go through. "It's just a light shirt and some shorts. Would that be enough?"

<For now, yes. Thank you.> And with that matter settled and a grateful smile to the children around me, I drew on the strength offered by their presence. I closed my eyes, fought through the pain as I concentrated on the simple touch of Tobias and his friend, and I began to morph.

My skin crawled as the light fur covering of my people melted like plastic and was absorbed into tanned skin. It was an alien sensation, one that aggrieved my burns, and what little progress I had made began to revert immediately as I let out a cry of pain, but the grip of the dark-skinned girl tightened around my hand.

“It’s ok, you can do it.”

“Yeah,” Tobias echoed. “We’re right here.”

I struggled for breath for a moment. I wanted to say that it was impossible, but I had to do this. I had to.

With their support, I fought my way through fresh pain and tried again. I could not count on the random nature of morphing to somehow deal with the burns first, but I tried to imagine it anyways. To imagine my hindquarters and burned flank withering away, graceful forelegs thickening into the pillar-like legs of a human. And to my eternal surprise, my rear hips shifted, seeming to deflate as my tail slurped into my contracting spine with a single, fluid motion. My tailblade melted into my backside like soft clay.

My burns slowly knitted together as my lower torso compressed into itself before slowly collapsing into my back. The humans made noises- Disgust, awe, confusion, shock, each of these were evident in all their voices, but they slowly averted their gazes as my lower body became human. I wiggled softening hooves as they merged and split again to become long, flat-bottomed five-toed feet. Joints shifted, the elbow of my forelegs reversing into a knee as the proportions of my leg bones shifted.

From there, the rest of the morph was simple and easy as the sudden absence of pain filled me with fresh energy. I shrank, and yet my arms strengthened, wrists solidifying with pops and cracks into something sturdier and yet still so nimble. Two fingers on each hand vanished, melting together and lending their strength to those beside them, leaving me with powerful hands. I flexed my fingers gingerly as the fur covering I had regrown melted away once more.

My breathing organs shifted inside me. I had felt two of my hearts weaken and fade out, but the third in my upper chest had grown so much stronger, and as my organs shifted and changed with wet squelches and burbles, my breathing tube became so much more complicated as it split into two tubes, one of which pushed into growing organs below and into my rounding face above.

My faceplate split and articulated, forming a lower jaw that I tested so briefly as my mouth formed. Musculature ran over growing teeth before they emerged again from the gums, and my newfound tongue slid over each curiously. My ears shrank to the side of my head, nearly immobile as the cartilage stiffened. My stalk-eyes withered away, going dark in an alien moment of darkness. I tried not to think about how I could not see behind myself and instead focused on how my face subtly shifted, giving my main eyes- now my only eyes- a slightly broader range of horizontal vision. I could see my own thickening shoulders while staring straight ahead, and that comforted me slightly. Curly light brown hair covered my head, and for a moment I blinked before hesitantly testing the voice of a young human male.

“Um...how do I look?”  
  
“Not before you put some clothes on,” the blond girl laughed as she continued to look away. Tobias grabbed the sports clothes and handed them to me, and I slipped them on before standing up fully and frowning at the ground. Barefoot in a construction site as run down and littered with debris as this one...I did not envy the walk away from my stricken vessel at all.

Finally, Tobias nodded as he straightened the jersey I was borrowing with a tug at the shoulder. “Alright, it’s safe to look now.” The looks on their faces as they turned around gave me a moment of dread.

“Wow, um...” The dark-skinned girl tried to smile politely. “You look...nice?”

“Please tell me I am not disfigured.”

The loudmouth laughed. “What? No, dude, you look like you just came out of a magazine. I hope you’re not expecting to slip through crowds unnoticed.”

“Oh.” I nodded slightly. “The _frolis_ maneuver is influenced by decisions conscious and subconscious, and no one wants to look bad, so the resulting morphs can be...distracting.” I frowned. “I’m sorry, I just remembered I never got your names.”

The dark-skinned girl nodded affirmatively. “I’m Cassie. This is Tobias. That’s Rachel, that’s Marco, and that’s Jake.” They each confirmed this with a greeting, and then she looked back at me. “Um...wait, where will you stay tonight if the Yeerks are going to come back here?”

“Any forest would work,” I said quietly. “My species sleeps outdoors or under light coverings, and we are herbivores.”

“Oh.” Her face lit up. “My family’s farm is right by the national forest, you could probably-”  
  
“That sounds perfect,” I interrupted with a newfound anxiety. The Yeerks would be coming back here, I realized, and I did not know how long it would be before they arrived. “Um, Jake...may I ask for another favor? I would like to take some small supplies from my ship, such as the Escafil device, and they would fit in your backpack.”

He sighed and nodded. “Yeah. But I’ll need it back before school on Monday.” He held it out and I took it with thanks before turning to find the hatch to my cloaked fighter and gather supplies. The children, curious, came inside for the briefest of tours, and then we walked away. I knew that by sunrise, the cloak would fail and the fighter would be destroyed as soon as the Yeerks found it. I was stranded on Earth for the second time in my life. As I walked with the children and they asked questions ranging from the Yeerk War to the mundane, though, I realized there were worse fates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have the chapter after this one posted by next Sunday!


	3. Hope and Regret

I stood in the forest behind the barn Cassie had shown me to last night, and I blinked slowly as the forest came alive with birds and insects in the morning light. The single bright sun of Earth was just starting to shine through the trees, but I felt cold despite it’s warmth.

I had not built any shelter, instead choosing to attempt to sleep near a hollow log I was able to hide the child Jake’s backpack in. Most of my things and the stolen Escafil device remained inside the backpack, but I had pulled one object out, the animated photoframe, and set it on top of the log. It had kept me company through the entire night until I found I was too tired and even my emotions could not keep me awake.

I was far enough into the forest that I would not be seen unless someone purposefully came looking for me. That seemed to be what had woken me up- I had heard a twig snap, and my stalk-eyes slowly turned to identify the source. I quickly found it- peering at me from behind a tree was Cassie, smiling apologetically. I looked down at her with half-open eyes, still without energy.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

<It is fine. I believe I was already waking when I heard you.> That was almost truthful- I had not been able to slip into more than the lightest stage of sleep, so coming out of it would have been triggered by anything.

“Still.” She smiled apologetically before inhaling and letting out a puff of vapor in the cold morning air. “How are you feeling today, Elfangor?”

I did not immediately know how to answer that. I was alive. I knew that, but I felt as if I had died inside. I had lost my brother, the curious little _aristh_ who posed and postured as a Warrior as much as he could to the delight of many. His questions and enthusiasm for learning as much as he could from me were endearing despite the distance the conflict wedged between us in his formative years. I wondered what kind of Andalite he would have become, had he lived. And if there was any Andalite I could have told beyond Captain Nerefir about what happened to me all those years ago, it would have been Aximili. Should I have told him?

Additionally, I had lost every friend and fellow warrior I had on the _GalaxyTree_. Hundreds of good Andalites, proud and capable soldiers, were lost because our intelligence in this system was somehow faulty. Because Captain Nerefir, brilliant as he was, did not take the time to reconnoiter the system properly before coming out of Z-space. He and our planners hoped for an ambush, and they got one.

The news of the defeat, if any signal had escaped to the Homeworld, would be buried and the ship quietly stricken from the rosters without explanation. If it became public, Nerefir would be posthumously crucified. The blame would lie solely with the captain, not the planners who sent the ship on a fool’s errand. They would go on to repeat their mistakes again, and again, and again. Such was the way of the Andalites, it seemed. Mistakes repeated again and again, never learning from them. I could only hope this plan to repeat the mistake of Seerow’s Kindness would be different.

I spared a thought for the escort vessels we left behind around a nearby star at Nerefir’s insistence after one of the two frigates suffered a mechanical failure. They would not have been foolish enough to follow and enter the system, I hoped. Surely they had not followed the Dome Ship into an ambush and suffered the same fate.

<I am without energy,> I explained quietly. <I am...there is a lot to do, and I don't know where to begin.>

Cassie followed my gaze for a moment, understanding. “You miss them, don’t you?”

<...Yes.>

She looked at me strangely. “Is it possible that any of the other Andalites...you know, made it?”

I could not help but look away, ashamed. <No. The defeat was total. I...I tried to lead our fighters to safety after our Dome Ship was destroyed, but I made a mistake. I am the only survivor.>

She gave me a sympathetic look as she came closer. “It isn’t your fault. You guys weren’t ready for what happened.”

I was not sure I could simply not take any blame, but as I tried to explain why I was guilty, she rebutted again and again. Human stubbornness, I believed. She was insistent that there was a difference between what I did and what our military planners had done. I made a tactical mistake while trying to save my pilots, the planners made a strategic blunder by risking us in the first place. In her mind, there was a difference between those two concepts, and I could not make her see otherwise.

In any case, I was grateful for the company. We talked for a bit before she had to return to her barn for her morning chores. I offered to help- I had no idea what that would involve, but I explained that I did not want to feel useless. She laughed and told me I was far from useless, but that I should rest after what I had been through. My injuries were gone, but the emotional pain would last for some time.

 

Sometime near the height of the sun's arc across the sky- Noon, I reminded myself, the humans call it noon- the other four children arrived. I heard one of the boys long before I saw any of them. Marco, I believed. The loudmouth.

“Man, I'm just saying, this all has to be a dream. I'll wake up with a beautiful girl in my arms...”

One of the other children laughed. I recognized her voice as the blond girl from last night. Rachel. “Yeah, as if you'd ever get a girl!”

Marco protested quickly and with energy. “Hey! I'll have you know that plenty of girls dig a guy like me! I'm suave, smart, sensitive-”

Another boy cut in quickly. “Short?” Jake asked as I glimpsed them through the trees. Marco turned and punched Jake in the arm as the other two children laughed quietly. My tail twitched before I realized it was merely play, and I took a moment to calm my hearts.

I recognized Tobias walking behind the others. I could see him more clearly in the light, and my hearts twisted- He was underfed. His clothes were loose on his frame, and his skin was pale. He seemed to be more at ease with what the children had to have grappled with in the night, however, and was looking around curiously with a faint smile.

I judged the other children carefully, appraising their personalities. Marco had, as he so plainly stated, written it all off as a dream. He did not want to believe that he had encountered an alien. He had likely not even tried to morph at all.

Jake, walking beside the loudmouth, was more reserved. I couldn't tell what he thought of everything, but he was also looking around curiously. He could have been looking for me, or perhaps he had simply never been here before. I did not know which it would be. There was something beneath his projected calmness, however. Anxiety. I saw it in the way he held his shoulders, the way he turned towards every sound, even if he did not wear it on his face.

Rachel was hard to read from this distance, I thought. She was confident, however, and thoroughly out of place on this farm. Her look was one of someone who takes great care to present their best image, which I knew did not mesh with the manual labors of tending to plant or animal. That, I knew, was universal. And...something about her reminded me of Loren. More than her blond hair and graceful build, she had an energy like Loren that was hard to ignore. If she lived up to that, she would be a beautiful woman someday.

As I considered the children, anxiety pushed through me. I considered for a moment if I should hide. I had only one morph from Earth, acquired on my first “official” visit to the planet five years ago. I had long said, since the Ellimist returned me to the Andalites, that the Yeerks would try to take Earth. If I could not be here to protect my family, I would raise a racket until the Andalite military tried instead. As if to shut me up, the Apex Level put me in charge of a reconnaissance mission and made me Prince to lead it. While here on that mission, I acquired a bird I liked but did not know the name of. I had seen another like it with an injured wing inside Cassie's barn, but she had not said what it was called.

There was no point in hiding, I decided, and I had put it off much too late anyways as Cassie led the others around the barn. The children came through the trees and then, one by one, stopped as they saw me. Marco paled. Rachel nodded. Jake frowned. Tobias smiled.

 

<Hello again.>

“Hello,” Tobias called back. “See Marco? It's not a dream. He's real.”

“What do you mean it's not a dream? Of course it's a dream! Blue deer centaurs with scorpion tails are totally the sort of thing people would dream about.”

Jake smiled, letting playfulness override his anxiety for a moment. “Wait does that mean you're dreaming about me too? Marco, what are you doing dreaming about me?”

Marco gave a loud, exasperated groan. “I'm not dreaming about you, you're just here. Cassie, tell your boyfriend I'm not dreaming about him.”

Cassie was overcome by an embarrassed smile and turned away from the group to hide it. Rachel, on the other hand, laughed loudly.

“Sure looks like you're dreaming about him to me.” She grinned before looking over to where I stood. “So um...silly question, but I don’t think any of us got any sleep. There’s supposed to be a war. And they don’t teach us about how to fight in schools. So what do we do on day one?”

<We plan and train, I suppose. That is my hope. In asymmetric warfare you study your enemy before you act, to maximize the impact of your strikes and minimize your own casualties.> My hooves turned to lead. <This would be an extreme example of asymmetric warfare. One Andalite far out of his depth and five Human children versus an empire with orbital dominance and an untold number of soldiers, likely in the hundred thousands on this planet alone.>

Marco rolled his eyes. “Yeah, great pep talk. Just what we needed. Anybody else wanna go to the loony bin with me?” He looked around. “Anybody?”

Jake raised a hand. “So we look for a weakness, right? What else can you tell us about Yeerks? What do they eat?” For a moment, he looked around. “They’re not from here, maybe they’re bringing their food in from somewhere else.”

There was an undeniable wisdom in his logic. <The Yeerks do not eat in the traditional sense. They are radiotrophic, relying on a weakly-ionizing radiation called Kandrona radiation to convert complex sugars into simple sugars for energy. They do take in nutrients to create the complex sugars, but...> I frowned. <Yes, that is right, the Kandrona source should be a weakness. But it will be hidden, well defended, and likely not even at their main complex.>

“Ah.” Jake’s face fell. “Um...what else?”

Tobias spoke up. “The Yeerks need to feed every three days, don’t they?” He looked at me questioningly as everyone else turned their attention to him. “It just...there was a flash when you said Kandrona. They feed every three days. They have to leave their hosts and swim around in this...sludge to get their nutrients, and that’s where they get their radiation too.”

<Yes, a Yeerk Pool. On many planets they are simply open to the surface, but the ones on your planet are likely hidden to protect them from the elements and potential resistance by your governments if the plot were uncovered.>

Marco puffed up as he raised both hands. “Hang on! I didn’t get any flash! What are you talking about?”

“He um...” Tobias chewed his bottom lip for a moment. “He showed me things, last night, when I stayed behind for a few seconds. It’s all a jumbled mess, but sometimes something hits me like...” He nodded. “Well, like a flash of insight. I think I’ve had...four so far.”

<I did not want to leave you without other information that may be useful,> I offered quietly. <I was certain I would die, and you would need more information than I had time to give you.>

“Great! Just great!” Marco rubbed his forehead with a hand. “So the scrawny kid we barely know is now a walking encyclopedia for alien facts. Are there any other surprises waiting for us?”

Rachel scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Anyone we know could have one of these slugs in their heads. They’d probably go after...” She thought. “How many Yeerks are there?”

<They started with only a quarter million Yeerks many years ago, but in thirty years their numbers have swelled to somewhere in the hundreds of millions. They are spread across many planets. In many cases they do not assign a Yeerk to every individual, but rather seize control more conventionally through military means and use Controllers to ensure the compliance of unoccupied slaves. There are exceptions- Races with particularly useful bodies such as the Hork-Bajir will be completely occupied by Yeerks if the resources are available.>

“Oh.” Rachel nodded to herself. “That’s...interesting. Marco, you’re a nerd. How many Humans are there again?”

“Oh I’m a nerd?” Marco scoffed. “Reading comic books doesn’t make me a nerd! Jake, tell her I’m not a nerd.”

“He’s not the smart kind of nerd,” Jake offered in Marco’s defense. Marco nodded in agreement before he realized what Jake had said.

“HEY!”

As Jake and Marco gave each other playfully opposed looks, Tobias raised a hand slowly. “There are about 5.7 billion Humans.”

The information hit me hard, and I wavered on my hooves. <Repeat that for me, please. Did you say five _billion_ and seven hundred _million_ Humans?>

“Give or take a few million. It’s growing all the time, they say we might hit six billion in the next year. I think they called it an exponential growth curve in the article I read.”

Cassie blinked. “A magazine article? That wasn’t National Geographic, was it?”

“Yeah, I read it at the library...” Tobias looked down and missed Cassie’s approving nod.

I stared hard for a moment at the ground. 5.7 billion humans...The Ellimist had pulled me away from Earth in the autumn of 1983, I believed, if I remembered my human years correctly. The population had only been 4.7 billion then. A billion additional humans in 13 years. The population size alone was unfathomable, but the growth rate was simply unbelievable. Together...

I slowly gave voice to my realization. <The Yeerks would never be able to keep up. They will have to seek domination or alliance. There are not enough Yeerks for every human and may never be enough with those numbers and growth rate.>

Rachel seemed relieved for a moment. “So what, they just take over and then...make everybody work in factories?”

<No. Unless they miraculously chose to be diplomatic and seek a partnership as equals- that is utterly impossible, I should add, the Yeerks would never consider such an act- the Yeerks would reduce surplus population to manageable levels and then use a controlled reproductive rate to ensure the population never grew beyond their control again.>

The faces of the children paled as they immediately understood what I meant. “We’re not just talking about enslavement, then,” Cassie said quietly. “They would kill billions of people just because they couldn’t use them.”

Jake’s face darkened. “We won’t let that happen.” He glanced over at me. “So. How do the Andalites normally handle this?”

That was not a question I was comfortable sharing a truthful answer on- We always sent too few forces or resorted to extreme, detestable measures that went against all we stood for. It was not something to be proud of. <Conventional military confrontations.> 

“Right. And we’ve got nothing if the Yeerks start blowing up military bases from orbit, so bringing the military in...” Something heavy settled about his shoulders, causing them to fall. “Do you think they could beat the Yeerks if we told them?”

<It is possible that the existing Yeerk forces on Earth would lose an armed confrontation. The Yeerks would not resort to hiding if they did not have to. But as you have observed, the Yeerks could simply strike from orbit, while your orbital capabilities are very limited.> I was being generous. Human anti-satellite missiles or nuclear missiles could deal with one or two ships if the stars aligned, but even then it would be close. <In addition, the fleet the Yeerks would send to put down a Human rebellion would be impossible for your militaries to defeat.>

They stared at me, and I felt my shoulders fall before explaining the horrible truth. <The Yeerks have also been known to simply ignite the atmosphere of any planet that resists too much. After taking a small population of hosts they can breed, they do not specifically need the planet anymore. They could harvest raw resources from the burned wasteland and repopulate it from the few thousand captives they would take beforehand.>

 

There was a loud cry of disbelief as Marco threw his hands into the air. “Well! That’s it! Goodbye humanity, it was nice knowing you!” He turned and walked several paces before stopping, shoulders slumped as he stared at a rock on the ground. I looked around at the others for a moment, unsure of what to say. I knew the war, the Yeerks, the technology, and I had some dated experiences with Earth...but they knew Marco and each other. They knew their planet.

Anxiously, I traced my hands over each other as I looked between them. <Do any of you know how to help him?>

Jake sighed and turned to go talk to Marco, and after a few moments of quiet chatter they both returned. Marco’s face was dark and furious, but he sighed and sat down with his legs folded as he looked up at me.

“So,” he said. “What do we call you? General?”

<Given my relative lack of knowledge on things related to Earth and its people,> _And my complete failure in orbit_ , I thought bitterly, <I am perfectly content to merely assist and advise. Would one of you be more suited to the role of organizing and leading?>

“Oh. Well, that’s good, we don’t need aliens coming in and bossing us around. I mean, isn’t that what the Yeerks want to do?” Marco directed my attention towards Jake with a motion of his thumb. “There’s your Mr. Leader Material right there.”

Jake let out an anxious laugh. “Wait, what? No...” He paled as the other children directed their attention towards him. Slowly, some silent consensus formed- If any of them would lead, it would be Jake. He slowly found his way to a log and sat down on it, burying his face in his hands for a moment. “Guys, I’m not the leader of anything.”

Tobias spoke up quietly. “Yeah Jake, you are. You’re the one we all know. The one we all go to when we need help. I mean...I don’t know Marco or Cassie. I don’t know Elfangor. I barely know Rachel. But I know you, and I know you can do it.”

As the others offered their support with a few words or supportive looks, Jake let out another sigh before seeming to age before my very eyes. “Alright. Alright, fine. Until we’ve got a better idea of what we’re doing.” He kicked at a small twig on the ground before looking up at me. “So. The morphing ability you gave us... Where do we start?”


End file.
